Edinburgh Wargames
The Age of Bonaparte
The French Revolutionary War (1793-1802)
Let's give the Jacobins a damned good thrashing!
I only started wargaming this period relatively recently. I didn't play "Napoleonic" games for a long time, and while I read up on the history of the wars, it never fired me up enough to start gaming the period. A little more tempting was the slightly earlier Revolutionary period, when Napoleon was still the unknown Bonaparte, guillotines were in every French square, and La Marsaillaise topped all the charts.
I've toured some of the battlefields of the French Revolutionary War - Arcola, Lodi, Castiglione, Rivoli, Fleurus, Neerwinden etc. - and I've tried to read what I could about this period, even though there wasn't much to find, compared to the later "Napoleonic" Wars. What tipped me over the edge was my buddy Chris Henry. Chris, and a new range of figures from Elite Miniatures. Chris had the first pick, and opted for the French - all revolutionary swagger and fervour. We've been working on this for a while, but it's always been on a low flame - something we've been building up gradually. Part of this is because Chris can rarely make it to the Edinburgh club, as he lives in the wilds of Fife. When we do get a game organised, though, it not only looks great, but we always thoroughly enjoy it - something a bit different.
A refight of Castiglione I took part in at Historicon 2010
Chris, of course, is prone to going off on tangents. Right now he's painting up Ottoman Turks, as he wants to explore Bonaparte's Egyptian Campaign. That's all too much sand and camel poop for me, so I'll let him have his eastern fling. Instead, I opted for the Austrians, France's most persistent opponents, and the fall guys for Bonaparte during his Italian Campaign of 1796-97. Of course, they also fought them in Flanders and the Rhine, but naturally Italy is the most attractive theatre. After all, how can you resist finishing off Napoleon Bonaparte before he really gets started!
Its not just Bonaparte. Why settle for a French Peninsular Army commanded by Marshal Massena when you can have him as a divisional commander in 1796, with other future Marshals of France acting as his subordinates? Where else can you have Napoleon Bonaparte commanding a Corps? What other period lets you have Bonaparte, Massena, Junot, Marmont, Lannes and Berthier all charging into action shoulder to shoulder, as they did on the bridge at Lodi?! The Austrians could really have made the world a safer place if they'd been a bit better at doing their job.
It also isn't all about Austrians. As I said before, Chris is painting up the Ottoman Turks, while I'm amusing myself by painting up the odd unit from the Sardinian-Piedmontese army, ad I've started on a couple units of Vendee rebels, the guys from the Poitou who rose up against the Revolutionary government, and won a few battles before they were crushed. You could also have Dutch, Prussians, Spaniards, Neapolitans, British or some of those little German states. Why not give it a go - it'll definitely be a change from the usual run of "Napoleonic" battles.
Back to my Austrians though. The figures from Elite Miniatures have a nice, straight-laced charm to them, and they form the bulk of my small but growing army. Their Grenzers - a new range - are really fantastic. Another great range - one I rely on for the rest of my army - is Eureka, the Australian company who have a great agent in the USA, Rob Walter at Eureka USA. Unfortunately their British one doesn't usually stock their French Revolutionary range. Another nice range is available from Trent Miniatures, who are sold by North Star. I find Trent a little chunky, but they have some figures that aren't available from the other guys.
We've built our units at a 1:20 figure ratio, but during the Italian campaign most units were a little under strength, particularly the French ones. In theory the Austrian battalions were bigger though, but we've sort of opted for 24-figure units for both our French and Austrian battalions, with Grenadiers and Grenzers in similar-sized units. Oh, we also have skirmishers (including Austrian Freikorps units, and small cavalry units.
Rather worryingly, the building up of this army is threatened slightly by my dabbling with other sideline theatres. Form instance, those Vendee figures might well build into a small army. also picked up some British in the West Indies figures, bought from the collection of Charles S. Grant. Before long I can see Chris' French fighting to defend Martinique, supported by liberated slaves, while the doughty Brits enjoy firepower support from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. That's a sideshow with bags of potential! That's one of the attractions of this period - there are so many places you can go with it!
An Arcola, 1796 game Chris and I staged at Targe 2008 - Click here to see the flyer
Chris' French in action - fortunately in this game they got beaten by the doughty Austrians
Austrian IR 4 (Hoch und Deutschmeister), c.1796
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Austrian Army Vendee Rebel Army (both under construction)
There's also a map of Fleurus (1794) on my Belgian Battlefields page.
French Revolutionary Games: Journal 39 , Journal 41 , Journal 48 , Journal 52 & Journal 69
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Seven Years War American War of Independence The Age of Bonaparte
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